The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently released substantial updates to its guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, which affects organizations receiving federal funds. This revision will have various grant accounting implications, including an increase in the threshold for needing a single audit, an increase in the de minimis indirect cost rate, and changes in allowable costs/activities.  The significant changes are summarized below: Burden Reduction The Uniform Guidance 2024 Revision introduces measures for burden reduction, aiming to lessen administrative complexities ..read more

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) includes all direct costs used during the production or acquisition of goods and inventory sold by a company. As a small business, understanding COGS can help you run a more efficient and profitable company. Not only will it affect your business directly, tracking COGS correctly can pay huge dividends when it comes time to file your business taxes. The main components of COGS are the direct expenses incurred such as production costs, inventory acquisition expense, labor, and raw materials. Indirect costs such as marketing and distribution are not included in COGS ..read more

The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) was enacted on January 1, 2021, as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, representing the most significant reformation of the Bank Secrecy Act and related anti–money laundering rules since the U.S. Patriot Act. The CTA is intended to address and guard against money laundering, terrorism financing, and other forms of illegal financing by mandating certain entities (primarily small and medium-sized businesses) to report “beneficial owner” information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”).  The CTA authorizes FinCEN, a bureau ..read more

Rivero, Gordimer & Company is committed to providing our clients with the highest level of professional services while continuing to give back to our community. We’d love to share with you what we’ve been working on over the last few months. Please take a second to read our 2024 winter newsletter showcasing our recent activities, updates, and news. You can download our newsletter by clicking the button below. If you’d like to receive our future newsletters by email, please complete the form on the right side of this page. Download Newsletter The post Winter 2024 Newsletter f ..read more

House Bill 1, effective July 1, 2023, significantly altered the Family Empowerment Scholarship in Florida by eliminating income and enrollment limitations.  This now makes nearly all Florida families with students in elementary, middle, or high school eligible for a school voucher equal to their local public school’s funding. This legislative change has broadened school choice access for families and necessitates more schools to engage in Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP) as per Florida statute 1002.421(1)(q). Engaging a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) for these services is time-sensitive.&n ..read more

At the end of 2023, the IRS announced a voluntary disclosure program for employers who want to pay back the refunds they received after filing Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims that they later determined they were not eligible for. The program will run through March 22, 2024. As discussed in our November 13th article titled New IRS Option to Withdraw ERC Claims, the IRS had previously announced a withdrawal program for certain employers who had claimed the ERC but had not received the refund (or who had received but not cashed it). At that time, the IRS was still working on the voluntary ..read more

By Patrick Goodwin, CPA and Stephanie Smith, CPA Nobody likes to hear the word “fraud,” especially when the fraud is associated with your own business. Fraud can occur to any person, at any company, at any time. However, fraud is more likely to occur when there are breakdowns in internal accounting controls, and this issue is only compounded the larger a company grows if a strong internal control structure isn’t put in place during the early stages of a business. As accountants who work with clients in a variety of industries, we’ve evaluated numerous internal control structures and witnessed ..read more

2023 brought some significant changes to tax rules, many of which have a specific impact on the Rent to Own (RTO) Industry.  Below is a summary of the most significant changes that RTO owners should be aware of. Depreciation Updates In 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which allowed businesses to write off 100% of the cost of qualified property placed into service after September 27, 2017, but before January 1, 2023, under IRC Sec. 168(k).  Unfortunately, this 100% bonus depreciation write-off was temporary. For property placed in service from January 1, 2023, through ..read more

A Financial Statement Audit is performed by an independent third-party CPA firm with the end result of attesting to the fair and accurate representation of an organization’s financial statements. At the heart of a reliable financial reporting process lies the reconciliation of balance sheet accounts. A reconciliation is the process of ensuring that the balances reported in an organization’s financial statements align accurately with the appropriate external sources. In this article, we will explore the importance of reconciling various balance sheet accounts and discuss the steps organizations ..read more

ESOP is short for an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and is an employee retirement plan as well as a technique of corporate finance. An ESOP can be used to finance the transition of ownership, raise new equity capital, refinance outstanding debt or acquire productive assets. ESOPs can also be used to increase cash flow by making plan contributions in stock instead of cash. One of the most common reasons for establishing an ESOP is to buy stock from the owner(s) of a closely held company to create an exit strategy. Shareholders can sell all their shares at one time or schedule to sell percentages ..read more